I just ordered one but it's not coming until middle of next month 
Can update you guys once I get it!
Can update you guys once I get it!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Pro How is memory management on new iPad Pro?
- Thread starter Rogifan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I have been saying that the move to 6GB was a bigger deal than an A13X, hopefully we don't have to wait another 4-5 years before Apple moves to 8GB...
This is good to know. Though my experience on iOS 13 is worse than iOS 12 so I wonder if Apple is just being way more aggressive with memory management in iOS 13 for some reason. Maybe iOS 14 will be better.
At leads now the baseline RAM for iPad Pros is 6GB. This refresh isn’t enough for me to update by 2018 model but if we get new ones this fall or next spring I for sure will be updating.
At leads now the baseline RAM for iPad Pros is 6GB. This refresh isn’t enough for me to update by 2018 model but if we get new ones this fall or next spring I for sure will be updating.
There are a few elements that lead me to conclude that RAM management is based on the SoC rather than on actual RAM. The fact that the 4GB OG ipad pro is managed like the 9.7 pro in terms of split screen + one app, and that people report the 1TB 2018 pro refreshing more than the 2020 one seems to confirm this... Having said that the OG pro refreshes much less than the 9.7 pro...
There are tests out there that confirm that individual apps can cause the device to use more than 4 GB RAM in the 6 GB 2018 model.
Last edited:
Yes, I have seen them, and again, the OG ipad pro can use (much) more RAM too compared to the 9.7 pro... However both reports in another thread and the fact that you can't use 3 apps in the OG pro seem to indicate that there are also some rules based on the SoC...
I tested the 2018 and 2020 side by side with all apps killed. I was able to load 7 Apple arcade games on the 2020 before it refreshed any and the 2018 only managed to handle the first 3 before refreshing. That’s a dramatic difference imo. Yes it’s only 2gb increase but in reality after OS utilization it’s nearly a 70% increase in usable ram.
So really no iPad Pro should ever have been released with only 4GB RAM. Just like the iPhone 6 and original iPad Air should have launched with 2GB RAM. Why is Apple so damn stingy with RAM on iOS devices? Is it because they want people to think iOS doesn’t need as much RAM as Android? Can’t be battery life as these new devices don’t have massively bigger batteries (not sure if the latest iPad Pro battery is bigger at all).
200 million devices at an extra $5-10 per device = $1-2 billion in additional costs
This is good to know. I was ready to purchase a refurb 2018 IPP, but now reconsidering a 2020 IPP based on the better memory utilisation
What about the 6GB of RAM in the 2018 iPad Pro 1TB model? can it be utilized for apps?
Apparently, the extra 2GB of RAM were used for management of the 1TB storage and weren't used for applications.
Of course this forum is an official source!
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/why-is-the-1tb-model-the-only-one-to-have-6gb-of-ram.2152599/
As mentioned before, that is incorrect. The extra 2 GB in the 1 TB 2018 model is available for applications.
Is there official info on this, one way or the other? There was a lot of talk on it but I never saw anything other than posts here and elsewhere on it.
The answer is that some people have already demonstrated greater than 4 GB RAM use on 6 GB devices, using test applications. The same test apps would simply crash on 4 GB devices.
I know. I wonder if back then the guidelines were for certain RAM targets, but that in certain situations the OS will still allow higher utilization if absolutely necessary.
I’d say there’s a good chance that things will change with iOS 14, when the 6 GB iPhones are released.